The property

The owners of this three-bedroom Etobicoke home were unsure whether they should have the place staged before putting it on the market. It was newly renovated, after all, and the interiors were bound to impress. Regardless, they decided to enlist some professional help after speaking with Red Barrinuevo, owner of Redesign4More, a staging company based in the Church-Wellesley Village.

The stager

Barrinuevo got his start in 2007, when he began staging houses for friends. For a time, he worked as an investment banker and did interior design as a hobby. His first professional staging job was in 2011, and now he has a small business with half a dozen employees. “The point of staging isn’t just to put on a show,” he says, “but also to help the buyers visualize themselves living their lives in the house.”

The strategy

Much of the work consisted of highlighting the house’s hardwood floors and other bits of decor that were added during the renovation. Barrinuevo also made slight alterations to the division of space, putting a bed in what had become a home office and a dining table in what was being used as a lounging area. Finally, he tried to make the house’s colour palette more consistent by adding rugs, furniture and artwork.

A large part of the job was organizing (or hiding) all the sellers’ toys, while still emphasizing the house’s kid-friendly nature. In the living room, Barrinuevo swapped out the family’s furniture for less bulky pieces with lighter colours, to contrast the newly installed flooring:

“They had way too many couches in this house,” Barrinuevo said. “A lot of hand-me-downs. And we were really trying to show off the space.” This meant ditching some of the seating in favour of a six-person dining table:

With the dining room restored, Barrinuevo got rid of the kitchen table to carve out a family room, where he added a couch and a colourful area rug. “Area rugs can dictate the feel of a room,” he said. “We wanted the family room to be more comfortable, more relaxing.”

The kitchen required less work than the other rooms. “They had these nice new lamps,” Barrinuevo said, “but you wouldn’t notice them with all the clutter.” He hid the cutlery and some of the appliances to give the surfaces a cleaner look:

In the master bedroom, Barrinuevo removed a dresser and a chair, and added a piece of artwork to fill in the dead space. Then he added a higher bed, with a headboard: